Display apparatus

ABSTRACT

A portable terminal includes a page storage section, in which a Web page is temporarily stored while the Web page is being browsed. Thus, when the same Web page is browsed the next time, a control section compares the Web page with the previously stored page contents and moves the display range of the page, so that the updated portion is displayed at a predetermined position on a display section.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/342,303 filed on Jan. 27, 2006, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference. Also, this application is based uponand claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC 119 from the priorJapanese Applications No. 2005-021715 filed on Jan. 28, 2005 and No.2005-022229 filed on Jan. 28, 2005, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a display apparatus that displays Webpages, for example, and that preferentially displays predetermined itemsin accordance with multiple designated priority conditions.

2. Description of the Related Art

The following first to sixth related art proposed as systems and methodsfor preferentially displaying predetermined items in accordance withpriority conditions.

The first related art is an information system that includes a mobilememory and an information, terminal for accessing the mobile memory. Bymanipulating the operating section of the information terminal, a usercan select one of a plurality of choices displayed on a screen, and cansearch for desired information. In this case, data related to theselection of choices by the user when accessing desired information arestored in the database of the mobile memory, and are employed to preparea data input history for that user. Thereafter, when the user nextemploys the information terminal to search for information, the datainput history stored in the mobile memory is referred to and employedfor a preferential display of previous choices frequently made by theuser.

The second related art is a contents pre-read method for employingpriority levels of pages at individual linking destinations to determinethe order for the pre-reading of the contents of these pages, and fordetermining priority levels based on past access frequencies (See, forexample, JP-A-11-219313).

The third related art is a screen display control system. According tothis system, screen display priorities used for displaying screens areprovided in accordance with priority item data selected from a prioritydisplay selection menu, data about the date and time where the item wasselected, and record data as to when the menu was actually selected.Then, the display positions of the menu items for which the prioritiesare allocated are changed, and the menu items are thereafter displayedon the screen of the terminal.

The fourth related art is a display method whereby, at the time of anaccess by a user, a profile of the user is examined and the cursor ispositioned at an information element (a hyperlink) of information, whichis determined in accordance with the times selected in the past and thetastes exhibited by the user.

The fifth related art is a page pre-read system that includes: a linktable, wherein a list of linking destinations for the individual Webpages is entered together with selection frequencies that are based onthe previous history; a table updating section, for updating thecontents of the link table when a link is selected; and a pagepre-reading section for, based on the contents of the link table,pre-reading data at a URL that, in the past, was frequently selected(See, for example, JP-A-11-249823.).

The third related art is a display method whereby, when a Web page isupdated, the updated Web page is compared with a cache file, and theupdated text data portion is displayed so as to be identified with theother text data portion (See, for example, JP-A-2001-34525.).

JP-A-11-219313, JP-A-11-249823 and JP-A-2001-34525 are referred to asrelated art.

As the use of portable terminals, such as cellular phones and PDAs, hasspread, increasingly there are cases wherein cellular phones are used tobrowse Web pages via the Internet.

Most of these Web pages are prepared on the assumption that they are tobe browsed by apparatuses, such as personal computers, that have largedisplay devices, and thus, are usually not appropriate for reading usingportable terminals having only small display sections.

Further, small portable terminals, such as cellular phones, have onlylimited input means. For a personal computer, it is assumed that apointing device, such as a mouse, is provided as an input device, whilefor many cellular phones, only a small number of keys are available forbrowsing Web pages.

As a method for browsing a large Web page, or an image, using a smallscreen, a Web page is reduced so that the entire width of the page, orthe complete page, can be fitted into the display section.

However, many Web pages are much larger than the display section of acellular phone.

Therefore, according to this browsing method, when a Web page is reducedso as to fit a display section, the reduction rate is too large forcharacters on a page to be read.

Furthermore, when a Web page, created for display by a personalcomputer, is browsed using a cellular phone that has only a smalldisplay device, in many cases only a not very important portion(frequently the upper left portion) is initially displayed, and a usermust scroll the screen.

Thus, when a user browses a large Web page using a cellular phone, theuser, in order to read information outside the display range of thedisplay section, must scroll the screen by pressing a key many times.This is a disadvantage, in that the user is forced to repeatedly performa troublesome operation.

Therefore, the above described methods are proposed for preferentiallydisplaying predetermined items in accordance with a priority order.

However, according to the related art for displaying items in priorityorder, since priorities are allocated in accordance with historicalselection times and access frequencies, a highly important item ofinformation, truly needed by a user, is not always displayed. Further,this related art can not provide a mechanism for displaying, when noinformation element is available that satisfies the requirements for anitem of the highest priority, displaying an information element of thesecond highest priority.

Further, there is a case wherein an information element that on aspecific page is granted the highest priority is not even present onanother page, and one wherein an information element that on a specificpage has a low priority has the highest on another page. However,according to the related art, depending on the situation, priorities cannot be designated and these demands can not be coped with.

That is, the related art can not display information that initially ishighly important to a user, so that the user either has troubleidentifying useful data, or must perform a troublesome scroll operation.Therefore, a disadvantage of the related art is that necessaryinformation can not be displayed rapidly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a display apparatusthat enables to display necessary information rapidly, so that a userdoes not fail to identify pertinent data, or need not perform atroublesome scroll operation.

The invention provides a display apparatus, having: an acquisitionsection which acquires Web page information including a plurality ofelements; a storage section which stores at least a part of Web pageinformation acquired by the acquisition section; a display section whichdisplays Web page information acquired by the acquisition section; and acontrol section which compares new Web page information acquired by theacquisition section with Web page information previously acquired froman address identical with that of the new Web page information andstored in the storage section, and which controls to display a changedelement in the new Web page information at a predetermined position onthe display section.

In the display apparatus, the control section controls to display thechanged element at the predetermined position, in accordance withpriorities designated based on a type of change.

In the display apparatus, when there is a plurality of the changedelements, the control section treats the plurality of the changedelements as a single change of element.

In the display apparatus, the control section treats a change of numbersas no change.

In the display apparatus, when the number of the changed elements isgreater than a predetermined count, the control section controls not todisplay the changed elements at predetermined position.

The display apparatus further has a designation section which designatesa position for displaying the changed element.

In the display apparatus, the control section calculates a scrolldistance to display the changed element at the predetermined position,and controls to display the changed element at a position separated froman initial position by the calculated scroll distance.

In the display apparatus, when predetermined Web page information isacquired, the control section compares the predetermined Web pageinformation with Web page information previously acquired from anaddress identical with that of the predetermined Web page informationand stored in the storage section.

The display apparatus further has a switching section which switches adisplay of predetermined Web page information to display an element ofthe highest priority and an element of a low priority at thepredetermined position.

In the display apparatus, the control section controls to preferentiallydisplay an element in predetermined Web page information that isdetermined to be changed first at a predetermined position.

In the display apparatus, the control section does not treat a changedelement as to be detected when a link to another Web page is set in thechanged element in a displayed Web page.

According to the display apparatus, required information is rapidlydisplayed, so that a user does not fail to identify data, or need notperform a troublesome scroll operation.

The invention also provides a display apparatus, having: an acquisitionsection which acquires Web page information including a plurality ofelements; and a display section which displays Web page informationacquired by the acquisition section, wherein the display sectiondisplays a predetermined element designated for each Web pageinformation at a predetermined position, in accordance with priorities.

The invention also provides a display apparatus, having: an acquisitionsection which acquires Web page information including a plurality ofelements; a storage section which stores priority information includinga plurality of pairs of address designation information for designatingaddress information and designation information for designating oneelement correlated with the address designation information; anextraction section which extracts, from the priority information,designation information correlated with address designation informationdesignating address information of the Web page information acquired bythe acquisition section; a search section which searches through the Webpage information acquired by the acquisition section to find an elementdesignated by the designation information extracted by the extractionsection; and a display section which displays the element searched bythe searching section at a predetermined position.

In the display apparatus, the priority information includes prioritylevel information indicating a display priority correlated with theaddress designation information and/or the designation information, theextraction section extracts, from the priority information, a pluralityof designation information correlated with the address designationinformation for designating address information of the Web pageinformation acquired by the acquisition section, the search sectionsearches through the Web page information acquired by the acquisitionsection to find a plurality of elements correlated with each of theplurality of the designation information extracted by extractionsection, and the display section displays an element of the highestpriority among the elements searched by the search section at thepredetermined position.

In the display apparatus, the priority information includes positioninformation indicating a predetermined position that corresponds to theaddress designation information and/or the designation information, andthe display section displays the element extracted by the extractionsection at a predetermined position represented by the positioninformation.

The display apparatus further has a section which sets the priorityinformation.

In the display apparatus, the address designation information includes apredetermined character string, when a character string constitutingaddress information for the acquired Web page information includes acharacter string preparing address designation information in thepriority information, the extraction section extracts designationinformation correlated with the address designation information in thepriority information, the searching section searches the acquired Webpage information to find an element designated by the extracteddesignation information, and the display section displays the searchedelement at a predetermined position.

The display apparatus further has a calculation section which calculatesa scroll distance to display the searched element at a predeterminedposition, wherein the display section displays the searched element at aposition separated from an initial position by the calculated scrolldistance.

In the display apparatus, when a browser is started, the display sectiondisplays an element of the highest priority at the predeterminedposition.

The display apparatus further has a switching section which switches adisplay of predetermined Web page information to display an element ofthe highest priority and an element of a low priority at thepredetermined position.

In the display apparatus, the display section preferentially displays anelement in predetermined Web page information that is determined to bechanged first as an element of the highest priority.

Preferably, the display section compares the acquired Web pageinformation with a designated priority condition, detects, as a prioritycandidate to be displayed, a portion that matches the prioritycondition, and increases the priority level of a candidate that isdetected, earlier.

According to the display apparatus, required information is rapidlydisplayed, so that a user does not fail to identify data, or need notperform a troublesome scroll operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portableterminal that employs a display apparatus according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the initial Web page displayoperation for the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example operation performed uponreceiving a display candidate switching request issued by a useraccording to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the entire layouts before and aftera sample Web page is updated;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing a related-art display example and adisplay example according to the first embodiment when a Web page inFIG. 4B is browsed;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing an example display for a list ofupdated portions according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C are diagrams showing an example display for thepresence/absence of updating according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing example shifting of a display position usinganimations according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams showing an example process for detecting anupdated portion according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C are diagrams showing shifting of a displayposition;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a portable terminal that employs adisplay apparatus according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the initial Web page displayoperation for the second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an example operation performed inthe second embodiment when a display candidate switching request isissued by a user;

FIGS. 14A to 14D are diagrams showing example screens, displayed on adisplay section, on which a control section of the second embodimentpermits a user to designate a priority condition (a display condition)that the control section stores;

FIGS. 15A to 15F are diagrams showing example screens, displayed on adisplay section, on which the control section of the second embodimentpermits a user to designate, based on a currently displayed Web page, apriority condition (a display condition) that the control sectionstores;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the layout of the entire Web page, and anexample normal display screen;

FIGS. 17A to 17D are diagrams showing example screens displayed on thedisplay section of the second embodiment when the Web page is browsed;

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing example shifting of a display positionusing animations according to the second embodiment;

FIGS. 19A to 19C are diagrams for explaining an example process fordetecting a priority condition according to the second embodiment;

FIGS. 20A and 20B are diagrams for explaining the process for generatingcondition tables according to the second embodiment;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are diagrams for explaining the process for generatingcondition tables according to the second embodiment; and

FIGS. 22A to 22D are diagrams showing the shifting of a display positionin accordance with the final table acquired through the process shown inFIGS. 20A, 20B, 21A and 21B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described whilereferring to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a portable terminal that employs adisplay apparatus according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention.

A portable terminal 110 for the first embodiment is an apparatus whereinbrowser software is mounted to enable the browsing of Web pages.Although the portable terminal 110 has only a small display section,this apparatus preferentially displays, on the display section, aportion that includes important information for a user, without the userbeing required to perform a scroll operation.

The portable terminal 110 can, for example, be a cellular phone or aPDA. And depicted in FIG. 1 are the functions, according to the presentinvention, performed by such a display apparatus when serving as anapparatus for browsing Web pages. For the first embodiment, theexplanation given will mainly concern the operation of a displayapparatus when serving as a browsing apparatus.

According to the function of the portable terminal 110 of the firstembodiment, predetermined Web page information is acquired and isstored. New page information is compared with page information that isstored, and when there is an element that is updated (changed), theupdated element is displayed at a predetermined position and ishighlighted, for example.

Depending on the updating type, the portable terminal 110 displays anelement at a predetermined position, while allocating a priority.

The updating type includes NEW, update, fresh, title change and changeto another element or another item.

When there are a plurality of updated elements, updating of theseelements can be regarded as the updating of a single element, so that achange of a number (or numbers) can be regarded as not being updating.Further, an element on the predetermined Web page that is determined tobe updated first is regarded as an element of the highest priority.

When the number of the updated elements is greater than a predeterminedcount, the portable terminal 110 does not perform an operation fordisplaying the updated elements at predetermined positions.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the portable terminal 110 has afunction that can designate positions for the display of the elements,and the center, upper left and the upper right on the display screen,for example, can be designated as display positions.

The portable terminal 110 of the first embodiment also has a functionfor calculating a scroll distance required to display an element at apredetermined position, and for displaying an updated element at aposition separated from the initial position by the acquired scrolldistance.

In addition, the portable terminal 110 of the first embodiment has afunction for switching a display, so that on a predetermined Web page,an element of the highest priority is displayed, and an element of a lowpriority is displayed at a predetermined position. That is, the portableterminal 110 has a function for, in consonance with user manipulation,sequentially changing the display of elements of lower priority levels.

As described above, the portable terminal 110 has a function forchanging the display position in the order of the priority levels;however, this display switching may be performed either by usermanipulation or automatically after a predetermined period of time haselapsed.

Furthermore, the portable terminal 110 has a function for employinganimations to visually display the state wherein a display position ismoved to a next position.

The portable terminal 110 also includes the following functions:

a function whereby, when a predetermined number or more of updatedportions are present on a Web page, it is determined that the Web pageis renewed, and the initial scroll for displaying the updated portionsis not performed;

a function for displaying a Web page while reducing the size of theentire Web page to present for a user the positions of updated portions,and for switching the display positions so that an updated portionselected by the user is displayed at the original magnification rate;

a function for, when there are no updated portions, displaying a noticeto that effect using an icon or a message;

a function for, when a Web page, acquired in the past, is to be comparedbut is not present in the page storage section, displaying a notice tothat effect using an icon or a message; and

a function whereby, when pages are to be compared, and when a link to aURL (Uniform Resource Locator), of a domain that differs from the Webpage currently being browsed, is designated for a updated portion, thisportion is not regarded as an updated portion.

An explanation will now be given, sequentially, for the structures andfunctions of the individual sections of the portable terminal 110 of thefirst embodiment, the initial Web page display operation, the operationperformed upon receiving a display candidate switching request, anexample Web page layout and an example updated portion, an exampleinitial display provided when a Web page is browsed, an example displayfor a list of updated portions, an example display for thepresence/absence of updating, an example shifting of a display positionusing animations, an example process for detecting an updated portionand an example process for shifting a display position.

As shown in FIG. 1, the portable terminal 110 includes: a pageacquisition section 111, a page storage section 112, a timer 113, astorage section 114, an operating section 115, a display section 116 anda control section 117.

The page acquisition section 111 has a function for using acommunication function to acquire a Web page via a communicationnetwork, for example, and/or a function for acquiring a Web page from arecording apparatus (not shown).

The page acquisition section 111 outputs acquired Web page informationto the control section 117.

When the portable terminal 110 is a cellular phone, the page acquisitionsection 111 employs a communication section to perform radiocommunication through a base station (not shown), e.g., dials phonenumbers or sends or receives email.

Under the control of the control section 117, the page storage section112 stores pages, acquired by the page acquisition section 111, andinformation associated with the pages.

The timer 113 measures the current time elapsed. The date and timeacquired by the timer 113 is referred to by the control section 117.

Information about an updated portion of a Web page, for example, isstored in the storage section 114 by the control section 117.

The storage section 114 includes a nonvolatile memory, such as anEEPROM, and is used to store a control program for performing speechcommunication or for sending or receiving emails, an Internet browser,message data, and an address book wherein names and telephone numbersare registered.

In the storage section 114, the element type extracted from Web pageinformation, information concerning the element and the priority(priority level), and information indicating the time a Web page wasbrowsed and the coordinates of the Web page are stored by the controlsection 117, in correlation with URL objects.

The operating section 115 includes a multiple ten-key number pad, and anend (speech end)/power key and a start (dialing) key when the portableterminal 110 is a cellular phone. When these keys provided for theoperating section 115 are manipulated by a user, an instruction enteredby the user to change a priority, or information for a positiondesignated by the user for the display of an element on the displaysection 116 is output to the control section 117.

The display section 116 includes a display device, such as a liquidcrystal display device (LCD), and under the control of the controlsection 117, displays as text received email or various types of textdata that are stored in the storage section 114.

Furthermore, the display section 116, under the control of the controlsection 117, displays acquired Web pages in priority order and inaccordance with a display style that conforms to display standards(display coordinates, the display form or/and the display size) storedin the storage section 114.

The control section 117 is constituted mainly by a micro computer, andprovides control for the entire portable terminal 110. The controlsection 117, for example, permits the page acquisition section 111 toperform the wireless exchange of various types of information, controlsthe display of information on the display section 116, performsprocessing in response to information entered at the operating section115, and provides access control relative to the storage section 114.

The control section 117 compares page information that is newly acquiredwith page information that is stored in the storage section 114, andwhen there is an element that is updated (changed), displays andhighlights the updated element at a predetermined position. Further,when there are a plurality of updated elements, the control section 117regards the updating of these elements as the updating of a singleelement, so that a change of a number (or numbers) can be regarded asnot being updating. Furthermore, an element that is determined to beupdated first on a predetermined Web page is regarded as an element ofthe highest priority.

When the number of the changed elements is greater than a predeterminedcount, the control section 117 does not perform an operation to displaythe updated elements at predetermined positions.

In addition, after the Web page information is displayed on the displaysection 116, the control section 117 switches the selected candidates inthe order of priority levels in accordance with user instructionsentered through the operating section 115, and determines the displaypositions of the candidates.

The control section 117 also calculates a scroll distance required todisplay an element at a predetermined position, and displays the elementat a position, on the display section 116, separated from the initialposition by the acquired scroll distance.

The control section 117 regards, as an element of the highest priority,a first element on a predetermined Web page that it is determinedsatisfies, the priority condition. Further, the control section 117switches the display of a predetermined Web page to display an elementof the highest priority and an element of a low priority at apredetermined position on the screen of the display section 116. Inaddition, the control section 117 controls the display on the displaysection 116, so that a state wherein the display position is moved tothe next position is visually presented using animations.

When a predetermined number or more of updated portions are present on aWeb page, the control section 117 assumes that the pertinent Web page isrenewed and does not perform the initial scroll to display the updatedportions. Further, as a display operation, an entire Web page isdisplayed at a reduced size, so that the position of updated portionscan be indicated, and the display position is changed so that an updatedportion selected by a user can be displayed at the originalmagnification rate. When there are no updated portions, a notice to thateffect is displayed on the display section 116 using an icon or amessage. When a Web page, acquired in the past, is to be compared but isnot stored in the page storage section 112, a notice to that effect isdisplayed on the display section 116 using an icon or a message.Moreover, for a comparison of Web pages, when a link to a URL (UniformResource Locator), of a domain that differs from that for a Web pagecurrently being browsed, is designated for a updated portion, thecontrol section 117 does not detect this portion as an updated portion.

The initial Web page display operation will now be described whilereferring to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the initial Web page displayoperation performed by the portable terminal 110 according to the firstembodiment.

First, at step ST101, a Web page to be displayed is acquired by the pageacquisition section 111.

At step ST102, a Web page having the same URL as the acquired Web pageis searched for among information stored in the page storage section113.

When, at step ST103, a Web page having the same URL as the acquired Webpage is not found in the page storage section 113 at step ST102, programcontrol advances to step ST104. When such a Web page is present, programcontrol is shifted to step ST105.

At step ST104, since a Web page, acquired in the past, that is to becompared is not present, to indicate that the process for determiningwhether there is an updated portion is disabled, a message or an icon isdisplayed on the display section 116.

At step. ST105, the control section 117 detects an updated portion, andstores information for the updated portion in the storage section 114.

At step ST106, when an updated portion is not detected during theprocess at step ST105, program control advances to step ST107. When anupdated portion is detected, program control is shifted to step ST108.

At step ST107, a message or an icon, indicating that no updated portionis present on the acquired Web page, is displayed on the display section116.

At step ST108, a message or an icon, indicating that an updated portionis present on the acquired Web page, is displayed on the display section116.

At step ST109, a scroll distance is designated for the display of thefirst updated portion at a predetermined position (e.g., upper left,upper center, upper right, left, center, right, lower left, lower centeror lower right) on the display section 116.

Following this, at step ST110, the page is displayed on the displaysection 116 by scrolling the screen the designated scroll distance. Whenthe scroll distance has not designated, the scroll distance is definedas 0 both in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction.When the scroll distance is equal to or smaller than the minimum value,or equal to or greater than the maximum value, the screen is scrolled upto the minimum distance or the maximum distance. Further, the updatedportion in the Web page is displayed on the display section 116 and ishighlighted.

At step ST111, the Web page acquired at step ST101 is stored in the pagestorage section 112, together with URL information and informationconcerning the date and time at which the Web page was acquired. When aWeb page of this URL is already present in the page storage section 112,the stored page is overwritten.

When a new Web page can not be stored because the available memorycapacity in the page storage section 112 is insufficient, data that arenot registered in a bookmark and for which the access frequency is equalto or less than a predetermined level are sequentially erased, beginningwith the data having the oldest storage time, until storage of the Webpage in the page storage section 112 enabled.

When all the pages are registered in a bookmark, or when accessfrequencies for these pages are equal to or higher than thepredetermined level, the erasing of data is performed beginning withdata having the oldest storage time.

The operation performed upon receiving a display candidate changingrequest will now be described while referring to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an example operation for the firstembodiment performed when a display candidate changing request is issuedthrough user manipulation of the portable terminal 110. This request isissued by the user after the initial display operation, explained whilereferring to FIG. 2, is performed.

At step ST121, a user selects an updated portion that was stored in thestorage section 114 during the initial Web page display operation.

This process may be performed using a method whereby all updatedportions are displayed on the display section 116 and a user selects oneof the updated portions, or by a method whereby a user selects anupdated portion either following or preceding an updated portionselected immediately before.

At step ST122, a scroll distance is calculated for displaying theselected updated portion at a predetermined position.

At step ST123, the page is displayed on the display section 116 byscrolling the screen the scroll distance acquired at step ST122.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing entire layouts before and after asample Web page is updated.

A Web page in FIG. 4A is the one that was previously acquired and isstored in the page storage section 112.

A Web page in FIG. 4B is the one currently acquired by the pageacquisition section 111 at the same URL as in FIG. 4A.

The Web pages in FIGS. 4A and 4B are compared by the control section117, and updated portions are detected.

According to the examples in FIGS. 4A and 4B, “NEW” is added after“notice”, “NEW” after “link” is deleted, “bulletin board” is changed to“BBS”, “mail:abc@abc.co.jp” is added, and an updating date is changed.It should be noted that deleted characters are not regarded as updatedportions. Further, updated portions are displayed, for example, by beingenclosed with a circle, so that a user can easily identify theseportions.

When updated portions are present at positions near each other, theseupdated portions are regarded as a single updated portion.

Therefore, an increase in the number of updated portions can besuppressed, and user manipulation can be reduced.

Further, when a predetermined number or more of updated portions arepresent on the same page, the page is regarded as being renewed, and aninitial display, of the updated portions is not presented.

In the first embodiment, when a link to a URL of a domain that differsfrom a Web page that is currently being browsed is designated for aupdated portion, the updated portion is not regarded as a target to bedetected.

The portion on a Web page that is frequently updated is usually linkedto external information, such as advertisements, and such information isnot very important to many users. The above described function is usedto suppress updating notifications for less important information.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, when a character string composedof numbers is updated to a character string composed of differentnumbers, this character string is not detected as an updated portion.

When only numbers are updated, these numbers tend to be less importantinformation, such as access counter or page updating date information,and thus, the updating only of numbers is not detected in order tosuppress an increase in the number of updated portions.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing a related-art display example and adisplay example of the first embodiment when a Web page in FIG. 4B isbrowsed.

The related-art display example is shown in FIG. 5A, wherein the upperleft portion in FIG. 4B is displayed.

The display example for the first embodiment is shown in FIG. 5B, andthe updated portion (“NEW” portion) that first appears is displayed inthe center of the display section 116.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a display example for a list ofupdated portions in the first embodiment.

When a plurality of updated portions are present on a single Web page,as shown in FIG. 6A, the positions of the updated portions are indicatedby reducing the size of the entire Web page, and a user is permitted toselect one of the updated portions for display.

When the user selects an updated portion for display, as shown in FIG.6B, the screen is scrolled to display the selected updated portion atthe original magnification rate.

FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C are diagrams showing a display example for thepresence/absence of updating according to the first embodiment.

In this example, an icon is displayed in a pictorial area to notify theuser updating is present/absent. An icon representing the presence ofupdating is displayed in the example in FIG. 7A, and an iconrepresenting the absence of updating is displayed in the example in FIG.7B. Further, in the example in FIG. 7C, an icon is displayed when thecache of a target Web page is not present in the page storage section112 and the determination process is disabled.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing example shifting of a display position usinganimations according to the first embodiment.

Since the screen is gradually scrolled from the first display position,indicated by broken lines, to a displayed position, indicated by solidlines, the user can easily identify the position, relative to a Webpage, of the currently displayed screen.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams showing an example process for the firstembodiment for detecting an updated portion.

In this case, HTML sources for Web pages in FIGS. 4A and 4B are shown inFIGS. 9A and 9B.

During a pre-process for the comparison of an updated portion in thefirst embodiment, comments, labels, return codes and blank codes thatare not related to the display are removed from the source codes for twoWeb pages to be compared. Then, matching processing for the two sourcecodes is performed to acquire corresponding elements.

Matching for normal character strings is performed for each character,but a tag is handled as a single element that can not be fragmented.

In the example in FIG. 9, through the matching process, it is found thattag <img src.=“new.gif”> was added after updating was performed.

When a normal character is deleted after updating, this is not detectedas an updated portion; however, when a tag is added, changed or deleted,extent of the range affected by the tag is regarded as an updatedportion.

Further, as for an image, when updating dates for two image files to becompared are different, the entire image is regarded as an updatedportion, even though the title of the image is not updated.

In FIGS. 9A and 9B, in the source, image “top.jpg” is designated priorto “new.gif”; however, according to the first embodiment, “new.gif”,which is the updated portion, is read prior to “top.jpg”, and the sizeinformation for this image is examined.

FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C are diagrams showing the shifting of a displayposition.

In FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C, the display positions of first, second andthird updated portions are shown, and after a Web page is acquired, thescreen is shifted to the screen in FIG. 10A, either automatically orthrough user manipulation.

According to the first embodiment, through either user manipulation orthe use of the automatic display position switching function, thedisplay position in FIG. 10A can be sequentially switched to the displaypositions in FIGS. 10B and 10C.

At this time, in order to notify the user of the presence of the nextpriority display candidate, a specific display is presented on thedisplay section 116. After the last updated portion is displayed, thedisplay position is returned to the position for the first updatedportion by the switching operation.

Furthermore, when the user performs the operation for confirmation,either the highlighting for the updated portion at the current displayposition is switched off or the display for notifying the user of thepresence of the next updated portion is deleted, and the screen isreturned to the normal Web browsing screen.

As described above, according to the invention, the portable terminal110 includes the page storage section 112, in which a Web page istemporarily stored while the Web page is being browsed. Thus, when thesame Web page is browsed the next time, the control section 117 comparesthe Web page with the previously stored page contents and moves thedisplay range of the page, so that the updated portion is displayed at apredetermined position on the display section 116. The following effectscan be acquired.

Even with an information apparatus, such as a portable terminal, thathas only a small display section, a user does not have to repeat thescroll operation to browse a Web page, and can quickly display, on thedisplay section, a portion that includes information that the userdesires to preferentially display.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a portable terminal that employs adisplay apparatus according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

A portable terminal 210 for the second embodiment is an apparatuswherein browser software is mounted to enable the browsing of Web pages.Although the portable terminal 210 has only a small display section,this apparatus preferentially displays, on the display section, aportion that includes important information for a user, without the userbeing required to perform a scroll operation.

The portable terminal 210 can, for example, be a cellular phone or aPDA. And depicted in FIG. 11 are the functions, according to the presentinvention, performed by such a display apparatus when serving as anapparatus for browsing Web pages. For the second embodiment, theexplanation given will mainly concern the operation of a displayapparatus when serving as a browsing apparatus.

Web pages are documents that are distributed via the Internet using theWWW (World Wide Web). That is, a Web page is a set of datasimultaneously displayed by a Web browser, and is composed of text data,layout information prepared using HTML, and images, sounds and movingpictures embedded in documents.

The portable terminal 210 in the second embodiment can designate, forthe individual elements (multiple elements) included on each Web page, apriority level and a priority condition that includes a condition forthe designation of an element. One function of the portable terminal 210is the display, at a predetermined position, of the element of thehighest priority.

Further, on the assumption that designated priority levels will bechanged, depending on the Web page, i.e., that a specific element willnot be present on a page, or that a specific element will have a lowpriority on one page but will have the highest priority on another page,the portable terminal 210 displays, at a predetermined position, anelement on a predetermined page that has the highest priority of allelements that satisfy the priority condition.

In the second embodiment, the elements are character strings, images,tags, data files, controls (text boxes) included in the source of a Webpage.

The information concerning an element includes an overview of theelement and detailed contents.

The priority condition includes an element type, element information, apriority (priority level), a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), informationabout the time at which the Web page was browsed and the coordinates forthe entire Web page. In the second embodiment, the coordinates can bedesignated by the user, and can indicate the display position when thedisplay of the Web page ended.

Further, in the second embodiment, a function of the apparatus is thedesignation of the position and element is to be displayed, and withthis, the center, the upper left and the upper right position on thedisplay screen can be set as the display position.

Furthermore, the portable terminal 210 of the second embodimentincludes: a function for employing address information to acquire, via acommunication network, Web page information that includes multipleelements; priority information including a plurality of pairs of addressdesignation information for designating address information anddesignation information for designating one element correlated with theaddress designation information; and a function for extracting, from thepriority information, designation information correlated with addressdesignation information designating address information of the acquiredWeb page information; a function for searching the acquired Web pageinformation to find an element designated by the extracted designationinformation; and a function for displaying the searched element at apredetermined position.

The above described URL can be employed as address information oraddress designation information. The description system that representsthe position of an information resource, such as a document or an image,that is present on the Internet is employed as the URL, and correspondsto the information address on the Internet. The URL is formed of aninformation type, a server name, a port number, and a folder name or afile name. Specifically, the URL is written as “access means://hostname.domain name[:port name]/path name/file name], and http is used asaccess means.

For the portable terminal 210, the priority information includes aplurality of pairs of address designation information and designationinformation for designating one element, and also includes prioritylevel information that indicates a priority level for a display that iscorrelated with the address designation information and/or thedesignation information. From the priority information, a plurality ofthe designation information can be extracted in consonance with theaddress designation information for designating the address informationfor the acquired Web page information. When the plurality of thedesignation information are extracted, a searchable element of thehighest priority level among a plurality of elements related with aplurality of extracted designation information is displayed at apredetermined position.

The priority level information includes a priority, a priority level,and a priority level associated with a predetermined element.

In addition, according to the second embodiment, the address designationinformation includes a predetermined character string. When thecharacter string used for the address information for the acquired Webpage information includes a character string preparing addressdesignation information in the priority information, the portableterminal 210 extracts designation information correlated with theaddress designation information in the priority information. Then, anelement designated by the extracted designation information is searchedthrough the acquired Web page information and is displayed at apredetermined position.

That is, in the second embodiment, the priority condition is applied forthe address for which the upper portion is used in common and only thelower portion is different, e.g., for a URL for which the domain nameand the path name are the same.

The portable terminal 210 in the second embodiment has a function forcalculating a required scroll distance for the display of an element ata predetermined position, and for the display of the element at aposition separated from the initial position by the calculated scrolldistance.

In the second embodiment, the portable terminal 210 also has a functionfor, when a browser is activated, displaying at a predetermined positionan element of the highest priority. This is effected by regarding as theelement of the highest priority the first element on a predetermined Webpage that it is determined satisfies the priority condition.

Furthermore, in the second embodiment, the portable terminal 210 has afunction for switching a display on a predetermined Web page, so that anelement of the highest priority is displayed, and an element of a lowpriority is displayed at a predetermined position. That is, usermanipulation of the portable terminal 210 is employed to sequentiallychange the display to elements of lower priority levels.

As described above, the portable terminal 210 has a function forswitching the priority order for a display; however, either usermanipulation may be employed for this display changing operation, or theoperation may be performed automatically after a predetermined period oftime has elapsed.

In addition, the portable terminal 210 has a function for employinganimations to visually present the state for the movement from onedisplay position to the next.

An explanation will sequentially be given for the structures andfunctions of the individual sections of the portable terminal 210according to the second embodiment, the initial display operationperformed for a Web page, an operation performed upon receiving adisplay candidate switching request, an example screen for setting apriority condition, an example screen for browsing a Web page, anexample process for using animation when shifting a display position, anexample process for detecting a priority condition and the processingfor generating a condition table.

As shown in FIG. 11, the portable terminal 210 includes: a pageacquisition section 211, a page analysis section 212, a timer 213, astorage section 214, an operating section 215, a display section 216 anda control section 217.

The page acquisition section 211 has a function for using acommunication function to acquire a Web page via, for example, acommunication network, and/or a function for acquiring a Web page from arecording apparatus (not shown).

The page acquisition section 211 outputs the acquired Web pageinformation to the page analysis section 212.

When the portable terminal 210 is a cellular phone, the page acquisitionsection 211 employs a communication section to perform radiocommunication through a base station (not shown), e.g., dials phonenumbers or sends or receives emails.

The page analysis section 212 analyzes a page acquired by the pageacquisition section 211, acquires and extracts not only the types ofelements included in the page, but also the positions of the elements onthe Web page and their sizes, and outputs the results to the controlsection 217.

The timer 213 measures the current time elapsed. The time acquired bythe timer 213 is referred to by the control section 217.

The storage section 214 stores a priority condition that, for example,is designated by user employment of the operating section 215.

The storage section 214 includes a nonvolatile memory, such as anEEPROM, and is used to store a control program for performing speechcommunication or for sending or receiving emails, an Internet browser,message data, and an address book wherein names and telephone numbersare registered.

In the storage section 214, the element type extracted from Web pageinformation, information concerning the element and the priority(priority level), and information indicating the time a Web page wasbrowsed and the coordinates of the Web page are stored by the controlsection 217, in correlation with URL objects.

The operating section 215 includes a multiple ten-key number pad, and anend (speech end)/power key and a start (dialing) key when the portableterminal 210 is a cellular phone. When these keys provided for theoperating section 215 are manipulated by a user, an instruction enteredby the user to change a priority condition or a priority, or informationfor a position designated by the user for the display of an element onthe display section 216 is output to the control section 217.

The display section 216 includes a display device, such as a liquidcrystal display device (LCD), and under the control of the controlsection 217, displays as text received email or various types of textdata that are stored in the storage section 214.

Furthermore, the display section 216, under the control of the controlsection 217, displays acquired Web pages in priority order and inaccordance with a display style that conforms to display standards(display coordinates, the display form or/and the display size) storedin the storage section 214.

The control section 217 is constituted mainly by a micro computer, andprovides control for the entire portable terminal 210. The controlsection 217, for example, permits the page acquisition section 211 toperform the wireless exchange of various types of information, controlsthe display of information on the display section 216, performsprocessing in response to information entered at the operating section215, and provides access control relative to the storage section 214.

The control section 217 compares the priority conditions stored in thestorage section 214 with information acquired for the Web page extractedby the page analysis section 212 and the time information acquired bythe timer 213, and determines which portions match the conditions fordesignation as a priority display candidate. Furthermore, the controlsection 217 always adds condition “coordinates (0, 0)” as a candidate ofthe lowest priority.

When there are a plurality of candidates that match a specificcondition, the control section 217 allocates a higher priority to thecandidate that was first detected.

At the initial display time, the control section 217 selects thecandidate of the highest priority, and determines the display positionfor this candidate on the display section 216.

Further, after Web page information is displayed on the display section216, the control section 217 changes the priority order of selectedcandidates as the user manipulates the operating section 215, anddetermines the display positions for these candidates.

The control section 217 calculates a scroll distance required to displayan element at a predetermined position, and displays the pertinentelement on the display section 216 at a position separate from theinitial position at the scroll distance that is acquired by thecalculation.

In addition, the control section 217 has a function whereby, when thebrowser is activated, the element of the highest priority is displayedat a predetermined position. Further, the first element on apredetermined Web page that is determined to satisfy the prioritycondition is regarded as the element of the highest priority.

Moreover, the control section 217 changes the display, so that, on apredetermined Web page, the element of the highest priority is displayedand an element of a low priority is displayed at a predeterminedposition on the screen of the display section.

Furthermore, the control section 217 controls the display on the displaysection 216 using animations, so that the shifting from one displayposition to the next can be visually presented.

The initial operation for displaying a Web page will now be explainedwhile referring to FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the initial Web page displayoperation performed by the portable terminal 210 according to the secondembodiment.

First, at step ST201, for a Web page that is acquired and displayed bythe page acquisition section 211, the page analysis section 212 analyzesand extracts elements, such as character strings, images and controlsthat are present on the page and information for these elements (e.g.,positions, sizes, presence/absence of links and font information). Theanalysis results are transmitted to the control section 217.

Then, at step ST202, the control section 217 compares the page analysisresults acquired by the page analysis section 212 with a prioritycondition stored in the storage section 214, and enumerates, as displaycandidates, elements that satisfy the condition.

At step ST203, the control section 217 registers all of the candidatesin the storage section 214 in order to change the display candidatesafter they are displayed once. Through this process, when the candidatesare to be changed, the process performed for the comparison with thecondition need not be repeated. It should be noted that the contentsregistered in the storage section 214 are erased when a Web page to bedisplayed is changed.

At step ST204, from among the enumerated candidates, the control section217 selects the candidate of the highest priority.

At step ST205, the control section 217 calculates a scroll distance fordisplaying the selected candidate at a predetermined position (e.g.,upper left, upper center, upper right, left, center, right, lower left,lower center or lower right) on the display section 16.

Since the position and the size of the element are already known throughthe analysis performed at step ST1, the appropriate scroll distance isacquired based on information concerning the width and the height of thedisplay section 216.

At step ST206, the control section 217 scrolls the screen the scrolldistance acquired at step ST205, and displays the selected candidate onthe display section 216. When the scroll distance is equal to or smallerthan a predetermined minimum value, or equal to or greater than apredetermined maximum value, the screen is scrolled to the minimumlimited distance or the maximum limited distance.

The operation performed upon receiving a display candidate changerequest will now be described while referring to FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an example operation for thesecond embodiment performed when a display candidate change request isissued in response to user manipulation of the portable terminal 210.This request is issued by the user after the initial display operation,explained while referring to FIG. 12, is performed.

At step ST211, a user is permitted to select one of the displaycandidates that were registered in the storage section 214 when the Webpage was initially displayed. This process may be performed using amethod whereby all the candidates are displayed on the display section216 and the user is permitted to select one of them, or a method wherebythe user is permitted to select either a candidate of a priority that ishigher by one level than the candidate that was selected immediatelybefore or a candidate of a priority that is lower by one level.

At step ST212, as at step ST205 in FIG. 12, the control section 217calculates a scroll distance for displaying the selected candidate at apredetermined position.

At step ST213, as at step ST206 in FIG. 12, the control section 217scrolls the screen the scroll distance acquired at step ST212.

While referring to FIGS. 14A to 14D, an explanation will now be givenfor an example process for setting a priority condition in accordancewith a display screen.

FIGS. 14A to 14D are diagrams showing example screens, displayed on thedisplay section 216, on which the control section 217 of the secondembodiment permits a user to designate a priority condition (a displaycondition) that it stores in the storage section 214.

For setting a priority condition, as shown in FIG. 14A, a usermanipulates the operating section 215 to enter the URL for which acondition to be designated is to be applied. When a Web page wasdisplayed immediately before, this URL is included as the initial valuefor this entry.

Further, in the second embodiment, a choice can be made to apply acondition to all the URLs, instead of designating a specific URL, and achoice can be made to manually enter a URL. Furthermore, from among suchelements as a character string, an image/moving picture, a control(e.g., a push button, a radio button, a check button or a text box) andcoordinates, an object that is to be preferentially displayed can bedesignated as a condition by manipulating the operating section 215. Inaddition, the display position of this selected element on the displaysection 216 is designated by manipulating the operating section 215. Thetime zone during which this condition is applied is also designated.

When a “character string” is designated as a condition in FIG. 14A, anexample screen in FIG. 14B is displayed for the setting of a detailedcondition.

In the example in FIG. 14B, a character string including “topics” isregarded as a priority display condition. On this screen, a conditioncan be designated based on the character string, the style (includingthe font, the size and the color) of the character string and thepresence/absence of a link.

An example screen in FIG. 14C is displayed for setting the priority ofthe designated condition.

In the example in FIG. 14C, two conventional conditions are present, anda middle level priority between the two conventional conditions isselected as a priority level for the designated condition.

A screen in FIG. 14D is displayed after the second priority is allocatedfor the condition on the screen in FIG. 14C. The currently designatedcondition is inserted into the second priority and the previous secondcondition is moved to the third priority.

When the process sequences shown in FIGS. 14A to 14D are ended, thepriority display condition thus designated is registered in the prioritycondition storage section, and during the display position determinationoperation performed by the control section 217, the candidate detectorof the control section 217 refers to the priority display condition.

While referring to FIGS. 15A to 15F, an explanation will now be givenfor the operation for setting a display condition based on a Web pagethat is currently being displayed.

FIGS. 15A to 15F are diagrams showing example screens displayed on thedisplay section 216, on which the control section 217 of the secondembodiment permits a user to designate a priority condition (a displaycondition), based on a Web page that is currently being displayed, thatit stores in the storage section 214.

In the example screen in FIG. 15A, a Web page is being browsed. Theexample screen in FIG. 15B is displayed when a condition setup menu iscalled by the user while the Web page is being browsed.

On this screen, the user manipulates the operating section 215 to selectan element that is designated as a priority condition.

On the screen in FIG. 15C, the element (“character string” in this case)selected in FIG. 15B is also selected on the Web page that is currentlybeing displayed. When “coordinates” is selected in FIG. 15B, however,the screen in FIG. 15C is omitted, and the coordinate location for theupper left point is indicated on the screen that is currently displayed.

The example screen in FIG. 15D is used to designate the display positionon the screen, and a condition, such as a browsing time zone condition.

On the screen in FIG. 15E, the priority level is set for a designatedcondition. On the screen in FIG. 15F, the priority is displayed of acondition for which the priority is allocated.

The condition thus registered is stored in the storage section 214 incorrelation with the URL, and becomes effective only when a pageincluding the URL is displayed.

It should be noted that after the registration, the editing of theconventional condition, using the method shown in FIGS. 14A to 14D, isalso enabled.

An explanation will be given for a normal display screen and for adisplay screen provided by the display section 216 in the secondembodiment when a Web page is browsed.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the layout for an entire Web page and anexample, normal display screen.

FIGS. 17A to 17D are diagrams showing example display screens providedby the display section 216 of the second embodiment when a Web page isbrowsed.

In FIG. 16, a block indicated by a broken line represents the initialdisplay range of the general (normal) display method that does notperform enlargement or reduction of the size of an image.

According to the normal display method, the upper left portion isdisplayed first; however, in many cases, the upper left portion isblank, and a user is required to perform a scroll operation.

In FIG. 17A, a candidate that matches priority display condition“character string of ‘topics’” is preferentially displayed on thescreen.

Since the upper left display position is designated, the screen isscrolled so as to display the character string of “topics” at the upperleft position.

In the example in FIG. 17B, a candidate that matches display condition“image” is displayed in the center on the screen.

When “image” is designated as a condition, the control section 217actually searches for tag <img . . . >, which is included in an HTMLfile wherein a Web page is written, and determines whether the file namedesignated in the tag matches the condition. When the file name matchesthe condition, the screen is scrolled, so that image data can be readwhile displayed at a predetermined position.

In the example in FIG. 17C, a candidate that matches display condition“control (text box)” is displayed in the lower center of the screen.

When “control” is designated as a condition, the control section 217also searches for tag <input . . . > in an HTML file, and determineswhether the type of control included in the tag matches the condition.

In the example in FIG. 17D, a candidate that matches display condition“coordinates (100, 100)” is displayed at the upper left position on thescreen.

The process for moving a display position using animations will now bedescribed while referring to FIG. 18.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example process, according to the secondembodiment, for shifting a display position using animations.

Since the screen is gradually scrolled from an initial display positionA, indicated by a broken line in FIG. 18, to a display position B,indicated by a solid line in FIG. 18, the position of the currentlydisplayed screen, relative to the Web page, can be easily identified bya user.

An example process for detecting a priority condition will now beexplained while referring to FIGS. 19A to 19C.

FIGS. 19A to 19C are diagrams for explaining the example process,according to the second embodiment, for detecting a priority condition.

Assume that, as shown in FIG. 19A, the HTML source code for a Web pageis displayed.

The screen in FIG. 19B is displayed when an image having the file name“mypic.jpg”, displayed in the center of the screen, is designated in theHTML source code in FIG. 19A, image “ABC.jpg” is designated prior toimage “mypic.jpg”; however, in the second embodiment, image “mypic.jpg”,which matches the condition, is read prior to “ABC.jpg”, and sizeinformation for this image is examined.

The screen in FIG. 19C is displayed when the display of a text box inthe lower center of the screen designated.

The “input” tag in the source code is searched for, and based on thetype of information included in the tag, the type of text box or pushbutton is determined.

The processing for generating a condition table will now be describedwhile referring to FIGS. 20A, 20B, 21A and 21B.

FIGS. 20A, 20B, 21A and 21B are diagrams for explaining the conditiontable generation processing according to the second embodiment.

This processing is regarded as an example generation processingperformed when in FIG. 16, the Web page at the URL http://www.aaa.jp wasbrowsed at 18:00.

A table in FIG. 20A shows all the conditions registered in the storagesection 214 by the control section 217.

This table includes, as columns, “priority”, “URL”, “time zone”,“element (condition)”, “condition data” and “(display) position”.

For example, for the first priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “none”,element “image”, condition data “file name mypic.jpg” and displayposition “center” are registered.

For the second priority, URL “none”, time zone “12:00 to 19:00”, element“character string”, condition data “news” and display position “upperleft” are registered.

For the third priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element “characterstring”, condition data “topics” and display position “upper left” areregistered.

For the fourth priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“character string”, condition data “today's fortune” and displayposition “upper left” are registered.

For the fifth priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “5:00 to 9:00”,element “control”, condition data “push button” and display position“lower right” are registered.

For the sixth priority, URL “www.bbb.co.jp”, time zone “none”, element“control”, condition data “photograph” and display position “uppercenter” are registered.

For the seventh priority, URL “none”, time zone “20:00 to 23:00”,element “image”, condition data “extension ‘gif’” and display position“center” are registered.

For the eighth priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “17:00 to 20:00”,element “control”, condition data “text box” and display position “lowercenter” are registered.

For the ninth priority, URL “www.ccc.ne.jp”, time zone “none”, element“control”, condition data “text box” and display position “left” areregistered.

For the tenth priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“coordinates”, condition data “0, 0” and display position “upper left”are registered.

A table in FIG. 20B is a table generated by filtering the entries in thetable in FIG. 20A in accordance with the condition and the conditiondata. When the entries are sorted, the following results are acquired.

For the first priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “none”, element“image”, condition data “file name mypic.jpg” and display position“center” are registered.

For the second priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“character string”, condition data “topics” and display position “upperleft” are registered.

For the third priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “5:00 to 9:00”,element “control”, condition data “push button” and display position“lower right” are registered.

For the fourth priority, URL “www.bbb.co.jp”, time zone “none”, element“character string”, condition data “photograph” and display position“upper center” are registered.

For the fifth priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “17:00 to 20:00”,element “control”, condition data “text box” and display position “lowercenter” are registered.

For the sixth priority, URL “www.ccc.ne.jp”, time zone “none”, element“control”, condition data “text box” and display position “left” areregistered.

For the seventh priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“coordinates”, condition data “0, 0” and display position “upper left”are registered.

A table in FIG. 21A is a table generated by removing a conditionaccording to which a URL is designated that does not match a URL for aWeb page to be displayed in FIG. 20B, and by then sorting the entries sothat the priority of the condition according to which the URL isdesignated is given higher than the priority of a condition according towhich the URL is not designated. That is, the table in FIG. 21A isacquired by filtering the entries in FIG. 21B based on the URL, andsorting the entries. For example, a case is shown wherein for thebrowsing of “www.ccc.ne.jp”. As a result of sorting the entries, thefollowing is acquired.

For the first priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “none”, element“image”, condition data “file name mypic.jpg” and display position“center” are registered.

For the second priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “5:00 to 9:00”,element “control”, condition data “push button” and display position“lower right” are registered.

For the third priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “17:00 to 20:00”,element “control”, condition data “text box” and display position “lowercenter” are registered.

For the fourth priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“character string”, condition data “topics” and display position “upperleft” are registered.

For the fifth priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“coordinates”, condition data “0, 0” and display position “upper left”are registered.

A table in FIG. 21B is a table generated by removing a condition forwhich a time zone that does not match a browsing time is designated inFIG. 21A, and by then sorting the entries so that the priority of acondition according to which a time zone is designated is given higherthan the priority of a condition according to which a time zone is notdesignated. The thus generated table is registered in the storagesection 214 as a table wherein the final priority display positions areentered.

The contents of the table finally registered are as follows.

For the first priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “17:00 to 20:00”,element “control”, condition data “text box” and display position “lowercenter” are registered.

For the second priority, URL “www.aaa.jp”, time zone “none”, element“image”, condition data “file name mypic.jpg” and display position“center” are registered.

For the third priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element “characterstring”, condition data “topics” and display position “upper left” areregistered.

For the fourth priority, URL “none”, time zone “none”, element“coordinates”, condition data “0, 0” and display position “upper left”are registered.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are diagrams showing the shifting of a displayposition in accordance with the final tables acquired in FIGS. 201, 20B,21A and 21B.

The display position for the first priority is shown in FIG. 221, and isregarded as the initial display position for the current Web page. Thedisplay positions shown in FIGS. 22B, 22C and 22D are those for thesecond priority, the third priority and the fourth priority.

In the second embodiment, user manipulation or the automatic displayposition switching function can also be employed to sequentially shiftthe display position shown in FIG. 22A to the display positions shown inFIGS. 22B, 22C and 22D.

At this time, in order to notify the user of the presence of the nextcandidate to be preferentially displayed, a specific presentation isprovided on the display section 216. After the candidate of the lowestpriority is displayed, the display position is returned to the displayposition for the first priority by the switching function.

As described above, according to the invention, priorities are providedfor conditions for display positions (e.g., positions whereat acharacter string, an image, a text box and a button or a coordinatepoint are included) on a Web page and are stored in the storage section214. Then, when the Web page is displayed on the display section 216,the control section 217 detects a portion that matches the storedcondition and that has a high priority. Thereafter, the control section217 moves the display range, so that the detected portion can bedisplayed at a predetermined position on the display section 216. As aresult, the following effects can be acquired.

Even with an information apparatus, such as a portable terminal, thathas only a small display section, a user need not repeat the scrolloperation to browse a Web page, and can quickly display, on the displaysection, a portion that includes information that the user desires topreferentially display.

What is claimed is:
 1. A display apparatus, comprising: an acquisitionsection which acquires Web page information including a plurality ofelements; a storage section which stores at least a part of Web pageinformation acquired by the acquisition section; a display section whichdisplays Web page information acquired by the acquisition section; and acontrol section which compares new Web page information acquired by theacquisition section with Web page information previously acquired froman address identical with that of the new Web page information andstored in the storage section, and which controls to display a changedelement in the new Web page information at a predetermined position onthe display section, wherein the control section controls to display thechanged element at the predetermined position, in accordance withpriorities designated based on a type of change, and wherein the changedelement is changed content of the Web page information.
 2. The displayapparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there is a plurality of thechanged elements, the control section treats the plurality of thechanged elements as a single change of element.
 3. The display apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the control section treats a change ofnumbers as no change.
 4. The display apparatus according to claim 1,wherein when the number of the changed elements is greater than apredetermined count, the control section controls not to display thechanged elements at predetermined position.
 5. The display apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a designation section whichdesignates a position for displaying the changed element.
 6. The displayapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control section calculates ascroll distance to display the changed element at the predeterminedposition, and controls to display the changed element at a positionseparated from an initial position by the calculated scroll distance. 7.The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when predeterminedWeb page information is acquired, the control section compares thepredetermined Web page information with Web page information previouslyacquired from an address identical with that of the predetermined Webpage information and stored in the storage section.
 8. The displayapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a switching sectionwhich switches a display of predetermined Web page information todisplay an element of the highest priority and an element of a lowpriority at the predetermined position.
 9. The display apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the control section controls topreferentially display an element in predetermined Web page informationthat is determined to be changed first at a predetermined position. 10.The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control sectiondoes not treat a changed element as to be detected when a link toanother Web page is set in the changed element in a displayed Web page.11. A display apparatus, comprising: an acquisition section whichacquires Web page information including a plurality of elements; and adisplay section which displays Web page information acquired by theacquisition section, wherein the display section displays apredetermined element designated for each Web page information at apredetermined position, in accordance with priorities, and wherein, whena browser is started, the display section displays an element of thehighest priority at the predetermined position.
 12. A display apparatus,comprising: an acquisition section which acquires Web page informationincluding a plurality of elements; a storage section which storespriority information including a plurality of pairs of addressdesignation information for designating address information anddesignation information for designating one element correlated with theaddress designation information; an extraction section which extracts,from the priority information, designation information correlated withaddress designation information designating address information of theWeb page information acquired by the acquisition section; a searchsection which searches through the Web page information acquired by theacquisition section to find an element designated by the designationinformation extracted by the extraction section; and a display sectionwhich displays the element searched by the searching section at apredetermined position, wherein, when a browser is started, the displaysection displays an element of the highest priority at the predeterminedposition.
 13. The display apparatus according to claim 11, furthercomprising: a calculation section which calculates a scroll distance todisplay the searched element at a predetermined position, wherein thedisplay section displays the searched element at a position separatedfrom an initial position by the calculated scroll distance.
 14. Thedisplay apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising: a switchingsection which switches a display of predetermined Web page informationto display an element of the highest priority and an element of a lowpriority at the predetermined position.
 15. The display apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein the display section preferentiallydisplays an element in predetermined Web page information that isdetermined to be changed first as an element of the highest priority.16. The display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the priorityinformation includes priority level information indicating a displaypriority correlated with the address designation information and/or thedesignation information, the extraction section extracts, from thepriority information, a plurality of designation information correlatedwith the address designation information for designating addressinformation of the Web page information acquired by the acquisitionsection, the search section searches through the Web page informationacquired by the acquisition section to find a plurality of elementscorrelated with each of the plurality of the designation informationextracted by extraction section, and the display section displays anelement of the highest priority among the elements searched by thesearch section at the predetermined position.
 17. The display apparatusaccording to claim 12, wherein the priority information includesposition information indicating a predetermined position thatcorresponds to the address designation information and/or thedesignation information, and the display section displays the elementextracted by the extraction section at a predetermined positionrepresented by the position information.
 18. The display apparatusaccording to claim 12, further comprising: a section which sets thepriority information.
 19. The display apparatus according to claim 12,wherein the address designation information includes a predeterminedcharacter string, when a character string constituting addressinformation for the acquired Web page information includes a characterstring preparing address designation information in the priorityinformation, the extraction section extracts designation informationcorrelated with the address designation information in the priorityinformation, the searching section searches the acquired Web pageinformation to find an element designated by the extracted designationinformation, and the display section displays the searched element at apredetermined position.
 20. The display apparatus according to claim 12,further comprising: a calculation section which calculates a scrolldistance to display the searched element at a predetermined position,wherein the display section displays the searched element at a positionseparated from an initial position by the calculated scroll distance.21. The display apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising: aswitching section which switches a display of predetermined Web pageinformation to display an element of the highest priority and an elementof a low priority at the predetermined position.
 22. The displayapparatus according to claim 12, wherein the display sectionpreferentially displays an element in predetermined Web page informationthat is determined to be changed first as an element of the highestpriority.
 23. A display apparatus, comprising: an acquisition sectionwhich acquires Web page information including a plurality of elements; astorage section which stores at least a part of Web page informationacquired by the acquisition section; a display section which displaysWeb page information acquired by the acquisition section; and a controlsection which compares new Web page information acquired by theacquisition section with Web page information previously acquired froman address identical with that of the new Web page information andstored in the storage section, and which controls to display a changedelement in the new Web page information at a predetermined position onthe display section, wherein when the number of the changed elements isgreater than a predetermined count, the control section controls not todisplay the changed elements at predetermined position, and wherein thechanged element is changed content of the Web page information.